How about stepping into the polished wingtips of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke?

You can, sort of. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has posted Fed Chairman, an online game which challenges players to keep both unemployment and inflation in check by tinkering with the federal funds rate.

Okay, so Call of Duty 4 it's not. Still, it's a short, interesting lesson on the relationship between the Fed and the economy at large.

It's been a rough year for homeowners, with mortgage foreclosures at record levels.

AddictingGames tries to squeeze a little fun out of the crisis with their latest offering, Mortgage Meltdown. Lou Kesten of the Associated Press offers a review of the free-to-play, online game:

"Mortgage Meltdown" [is] a Bizarro-world version of Monopoly... Instead of buying properties and trying to corner the real-estate market, your goal is to keep your head above water and wait for the economy to turn around.

Pretty much everything that can go wrong does, from troublesome tenants to property tax hikes to earthquakes.

If you can hang in there for four years, you might see a nice windfall at the end.

Times are tough, so why not blow your last few bucks on virtual threads for your Xbox Live avatar?

Designer Michael Connell spoke to Kotaku about his new line of fashion for XBL. While some of Connell's designs pay homage to the popular Steampunk style, he also gives a nod to the down economy with "Recessionista" clothing:

I was thinking about making a statement, if you will, that even though this time of global recession, everything isn't bad." Connell said. "And in the 30s, in a time that was really bad, much worse than it is today, it wasn't all bad. There was fashion that was quite interesting. And this fashion wasn't the couture that was happening at the time...

[I hope] to kind of show that there are good things and we've been there and we'll get out. Clearly these are subliminal messages, but this is what I was inspired by. If you design a collection I think the most important thing is there needs to be heart and soul and direction.

Employees of Eve Online developer CCP Games were paid in foreign currency during Iceland's economic meltdown in late 2008/early 2009.

gamesindustry.biz reports that the unusual action was taken due to wild fluctuations in the value of Iceland's krona. CCP Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson told gi.biz:

What really was the problem for us was how many of our employees were hit by the [financial] crisis...

We're not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, but at the very least we could leverage part of CCP's infrastructure that you wouldn't normally think would benefit your employees - allowing people to be paid in foreign currency, for example, makes it much more stable for people looking towards the future - when being paid in Icelandic Krona was still fluctuating by a few per cent here and there, it was very volatile and you can't really work with that kind of currency.

Activision Blizzard, the world's largest video game publisher, has been raising the ire of many gamers of late. So much so, in fact, that there is at least preliminary talk of a boycott of Activision products.

So what has the publisher done to create so much ill will?

A few things, actually.

UK gamers are incensed over Activision's plan to price the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 at £54.99 (roughly US$90). Wedbush-Morgan analyst Michael Pachter ominously described the move as a trial run for Activision:

Activision knows it has a 'hot' game, knows that the market will pay an additional 10 per cent, and has decided to increase price accordingly.

Game consumers are also concerned about Activision's pricing plans for specialty controllers for the upcoming Tony Hawk: Ride and DJ Hero.

Adding gasoline to the fire was a recent comment by Activision Blizzard CEO. During an earnings call last week, Kotick said:

You know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further.

PS3 News reports that some gamers are planning a boycott and links to an online petition which has garnered nearly 5,000 signatures to date. From the petition:

You're increasingly making your fanbase more angry. Your recent moves on the business side are head scratching and completely apauling [sic]. Tony Hawk peripherals to start, PC and UK price hikes and ridiculously overpriced collectors editions for MW2... Than [sic] your CEO decided to further anger your customers... I believe we are in what we call a "recession." What the consumer needs is not more expensive items, but less expensive...

Those were among comments released by Six Days in Fallujah developer Atomic Games as it announced layoffs today. The company is apparently in financial distress due to the game industry downturn as well as its inability to secure a publishing deal for the controversial Iraq War game.

In the words of Marine officer Chesty Puller, 'We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem...

We wish to assure the dozens of Marine veterans who have collectively invested hundreds of hours in this project that, while we have been badly wounded, we will fight on. The stories of your brothers' courage and sacrifice in Fallujah must be shared with the world.

The Wall Street Journal reports that mega-online retailer Amazon.com posted a 14% revenue increase for the financial quarter ending June 30th, but its profits fell 10% from $158 million to $142 million.

Amazon’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak commented on the drop laid much of the bad news on declining video game sales:

You're seeing an industry slowdown in videogames and consoles.

Despite singling out games, other factors impacted the profit fall such as “flat” media sales in North American (including books and music) and a $51 million legal settlement paid to Toys R Us.

In an article titled No Regrets, No Responsibility, Zelnick is taken to task for what Market Rap writer Perry Rod views as a string of leadership failures on his part. Most egregious among these would appear to be Zelnick's spurning EA's $25.74 per share acquisition bid in 2008. Take-Two stock (TTWO) currently trades at 8.58 and has dipped under 6 during the current recession. Rod writes:

If you’re keeping score, in a two year period, Mr Zelnick managed to, on three occasions, make vital statements that were within a matter of weeks proven to be either fabricated or just incredibly incompetent (or worse). Mr. Zelnick managed to resist and reject a buyout offer that was triple the company’s current share price while claiming other interested parties who never emerged. And Mr. Zelnick, meanwhile, tripled his management company’s compensation for these efforts...

These statements and others strongly suggest that investors should proceed with extreme caution with any investment that involves Strauss Zelnick. His performance so far as an executive manager of a publicly traded company is one of the worst I have ever seen in my professional investment experience.

The Market Rap piece is not the first time Zelnick has come in for harsh criticism from the investment crowd. Last October Mad Money host Jim Cramer added Zelnick to his Wall of Shame.

Video game revenues dropped more than expected in June, reports market research firm NPD.

According to Venture Beat, sales of game hardware and software dropped 31% over June, 2008. VB's Dean Takahashi writes:

In some ways, it isn’t a surprise. Last year, a lot of big titles came out in the first half of the year. This year, most big titles are coming out in the second half of the year... But it’s also clear the recession is taking a toll.

“This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers,” Frazier said. “This level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in the industry.” ...

It’s time to wonder if gamers are migrating to free games on the web, Facebook, iPhone or other platforms. While console game sales have been falling, the number of online game players is up 22 percent this year, according to market researcher comScore.

The idea here is that if you could make some tax credits and some tax breaks, that not only could you get your degree here, but you could work here to keep the best and the brightest minds here, in the [video game development] field.

Passage of Binienda's bill appears uncertain at this point given that some of his legislative colleagues have expressed concerns about giving up tax revenue in the current economic climate. A similar measure failed to pass in 2008.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) did a little bragging on Guitar Hero at a town hall meeting in Arlington on Monday night.

Patrick, who lobbied game publishers to relocate to Massachusetts during a West Coast junket in February, was enthusiastic about the state's economic prospects during his talk with citizens, according to Wicked Local Arlington:

This is not your father’s [Route] 128. You know that [video game] ‘Guitar Hero’? That was invented here. It was built here.

Route 128 is well-known as a technology corridor in Massachusetts. Guitar Hero creator Harmonix is based in Cambridge.

And ranking execs at EA are clearly among the privileged, based on a preliminary proxy statement filed by EA this week which lists compensation for its top officials. CEO John Riccitiello's fiscal 2009 package, which included salary, stock awards, option awards, benefits and a performance-based cash bonus, is valued at $6,365,823.

The Associated Press notes that Riccitiello's incentive bonus dropped from $625,000 in fiscal 2008 to the $400,000 figure listed above. In contrast to EA's filing, the AP estimates Riccitiello's total compensation at $11.1 million, using a $9.9 million valuation on stock options.

Not bad for a crappy year.

UPDATE:gamesindustry.biz reports that an unnamed EA spokesman has taken umbrage at the Associated Press claim that Riccitiello's options are worth $11.1 million:

Their calculation is inaccurate. It includes value of performance-based shares that will vest over several years - and only if high performance hurdles are met.

As reported, it appears as though those shares are compensation for this year, which they are not. Accurately, they are an opportunity to earn shares over the coming years if company objectives are met.

The spirit of those shares is to link executive compensation to the achievement of long term financial objectives. That programme, which is in place for all of EA's top executives, is designed to align interests of shareholders and management.

Made Off, available from publisher Cellufun, allows players to create virtual scams of their owns, promising other players investment returns of up to 20%. Player need to continually attract new "investors" in order to pay back the older ones, lest their Ponzi scheme collapse. No real money is involved. Instead, players trade "cellupoints."

Cellufun CEO Neil Edwards, who says his game pokes fun at the jailed Madoff, not his victims, told CNN/money that Made Off has an educational component:

When your fund goes broke, you go, 'Holy crap, I didn't invite enough people... There is a lot of misconception and confusion on what happened. People don't really understand a Ponzi scheme."

A blurb on the game's website describes the action:

Play as a slimy Fund Manager, a savvy Investor, or both. The game will end without warning when the Feds finally crack down on the Cellufun community, and people managing Funds will get to keep all the Cellupoints invested in them. Investors will keep all the Cellupoints they've acquired through interest payments as well. And we'll give trophies to those who have "made off" with the most profits...

Douglas McIntyre of 24/7 Wall Street writes that video games are an excellent economic indicator. And - given their lousy recent sales numbers - the indications aren't good:

Video games... [are] inexpensive enough so that they should be a reasonable proxy for consumer discretionary spending.

The signals from the video game industry in April were troubling. Sales of games dropped 23% and game console sales were down over 40%...

The slide in console sales is so extreme that it is a clear sign that sales of consumer electronics are in a flat spin. When people cannot spend $300 on a console or $50 on a game which can be used for hours and played over and over again, the money for discretionary spending has dried up.

On the other hand, analyst Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company pointed out this week in an investors' note that year-over-year April sales comparisons were negatively impacted by the April, 2008 release of two blockbusters, Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii. That was a tough act for April, 2009 to follow. Creutz also notes that most U.S. game publishers did well in April:

Three of the four major U.S. third party publishers saw significant sales increases in April. [Activision] saw a total game sales (incl. PC) increase of roughly +21%... Electronic Arts... saw total game sales increase +26%... THQ's... total sales increased +23%...

Over at Water Cooler Games, Georgia Tech prof and noted game designer Ian Bogost offers some thoughts on Bailout Bonanza, an iPhone game released in late March.

Bailout Bonanza is essentially a clone of the classic Activision game Kaboom! -- the player moves or tilts the iPhone to maneuver a bucket at the bottom of the screen, which catches money bags dropped by a Wall Street banker out of a neoclassical financial building...

The problem is, this game doesn't really satirize or comment upon the bailout. If anything, the Kaboom! gameplay feels backwards... The game also points to the issue of timeliness in editorial games. Creating an iPhone game like this one is relatively easy, but it still takes more time than making the equivalent Flash game... the bailout of the financial sector is, in a way, old news.

Bogost notes that Bailout Bonanza is just one of several bailout-themed games available on the AppStore.

Outraged by what it views as uncalled-for bonuses paid to American Airlines executives, the Transport Workers Union has turned to an online game to gets its message across.

NBCDFW.com reports that American Exec Check targets American Airline CEO Gerard Arpey. Southwest boss Gary Kelly is also featured in the game, but his much smaller compensation package is presented by way of contrast to Arpey's.

From the NBCDFW report:

TWU is taking out ads on news Web sites that feature an interactive game in which players match four U.S. corporate executives with their pay packages. Arpey has the richest deal, mostly due to stock-based compensation...

"I'm not comparing American Airlines to AIG," said James C. Little, international president of the TWU. "Nobody could stop the AIG bonuses, but we have an opportunity for American Airlines management to say, 'Is this the right time to take bonuses?"'

American Airlines stock now trades at $3, down from a 2007 high of $40. The company lost more than $2B last year.

Issues such as the recession, healthcare and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to keep President Barack Obama's attention away from video games, said Reggie Fils-Aime (left).

The Nintendo of America chief also believes that the video game industry is in a better position politically than it has been in the past.

Fils-Aime made his comments during a wide-ranging interview with GameDaily:

We have the first sitting president with a multiple gaming household, between the Wii and the DS. I believe that our president has more pressing issues to deal with, from the economy to the military conflicts.

Certainly, as an industry, we've met with representatives of Congress and other parts of our government. What they see is an industry that is mainstream, is creating jobs and is creating vibrant forms of entertainment. Those are all positive things for this country. So we are in a more favorable legislative environment compared to five or six years ago.

Bailed-out insurer A.I.G. isn't the only in-the-toilet company doling out questionable bonuses to the very execs who ran it into the ground.

For example, there's Midway.

Ben Fritz, who pens Variety's The Cut Scene blog, reports that the financially-troubled game publisher tried to persuade the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to permit it to:

pay "incentive" bonuses for an event which already happened (the sale of Wheelman to Ubisoft)

pay $1.3M in bonuses for either selling the Mortal Kombat franchise or developing a plan to reorganize the company

pay $2M in bonuses for closing the Mortal Kombat deal or getting the reorganization plan approved by the Court

However, the government's Bankruptcy Trustee objected, noting that:

it's hard to pay an incentive for something that happened in the past. The Trustee called this "disingenuous"

what else do Midway execs have to do except either sell MK or reorganize the company? That's kind of their job at this point

the size of the proposed bonuses are "outrageous," in the words of the trustee:

The Debtors seek authority to pay bonuses to a selected group of officers and managers which are four hundred percent greater than bonuses paid to the same group in 2008 when the Debtors were not before the Bankruptcy Court.

Given the current state of the general economy, coupled with historical data related to incentive bonuses paid by these Debtors, the Motion constitutes an outrageous request and is not justified by the facts and circumstances of the case.

Sure, those AIG bonuses were maddening, but punching out execs isn't the solution that most rational people have in mind.

Still, Kewlbox has posted Bailout Bonus Beatdown, an online game in which players have 15 seconds to throw punches (read: click their mouse) at a greedy yet defenseless exec from the "P.I.G. Insurance Company."

GP: We'd like to think that the state of games as political commentary has advanced beyond the tired whack-a-mole, punchout and first-person shooter genres. But, apparently not...

Like chief executives in other big cities, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has been forced to make some tough financial choices of late.

Perhaps His Honor should spend some time playing Philadelphia Budget Challenge, a new online game offered by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Alan Tu of Philly's public radio station WHYY has a review of the game:

This budget game asks 15 questions, giving you a choice to raise taxes or cut services in each case. My secret for solving the city’s budget crisis over the lunch hour is as follows.

The first thing to do is raise everybody’s taxes. That makes the game more fun. Who wants to be the mayor remembered for closing libraries?... The rest was a breeze. I ordered a 10 percent across-the-board cut to to all departments that were considered “administrative,” sold off 400 city cars, and then refinanced a loan the city has for paying into the pension fund...

It’s kind of fun, because it’s feels a little like playing Sim City. No big budgets to read. Never have to hear the citizens complain (although in the game they move away), and if you don’t like the results, you can play it over... the game is simplistic, but it is a wonderful way to generate debate in your office...

Stephen was checking out the Wii version and reports that AIG's now-infamous logo appears on the jerseys of Manchester United:

For those who recognize AIG as one of the most hated three-letter combinations in America these days, be warned about Konami’s new Wii soccer game “Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.”

The game’s opening cinematic has a bunch of guys wearing the company’s logo...

I discovered through “PES 2009″ that Manchester United... is sponsored by AIG. (Or, to be precise, used to be sponsored, as reports, like this one from Forbes, indicate that the U.S. government has nixed any renewal of this Manchester United AIG deal.)

After reading Stephen's piece I tossed my copy into the PS3, and found AIG there, as well.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) may have suggested that executives of public money sink AIG commit ritual suicide, but animation artist Joaqin Baldwin's approach to the new icon of corporate greed is far more diabolical. More fun, too.

AIG Exec UFO Catcher is Baldwin's AIG-themed take on those coin-op claw machines that one finds in arcades and the lobbies of greasy spoon diners. You know, maneuver the claw to grab a small stuffed animal.

In Baldwin's vision, however, players use the claw to collect AIG execs who are partying on the taxpayers' dime. Trillions of dimes, actually...

Entertainingly, things just don't work out so well with the claw feature.

Although the game is a bit NSFW, AIG hate is so rampant at the moment that even the most prudish of bosses will probably look the other way. After all, the boss is a taxpayer, too.

If you've been laid off, you'll have plenty of time on your hands to play the Layoff game - at least until your PC is repo'd.

The new, Bejeweled-like offering from tiltfactor satirizes the plight of worker bees who are paying the price for the incompetent Wall Street types behind the economic meltdown.

A company press release describes the game, which was developed by Prof. Mary Flanagan, Dartmouth’s Digital Humanities Chair in partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Game Design and Development program:

Players play from the side of management needing to cut jobs, and match types of workers in groups in order to lay the workers off and increase workforce efficiency... Players eliminating many workers in a row find financiers and bankers taking the place of working class jobs. The financiers in this game cannot face layoffs.

Prof. Flanagan comments on Layoff:

The game has an unsettling feeling. It is cute and fun to play, but when you realize how frightening the situation is, the game in fact functions as a very dark portent.

It has been a rough week for frenetic financial guru Jim Cramer, host of MSNBC's Mad Money program.

Having been pilloried on several recent episodes of The Daily Show, Cramer opted to appear as a guest, apparently in an attempt to explain himself to host Jon Stewart. Bad idea: Cramer's Daily Show appearance was a disaster.

Avenge Cramer’s disgrace at the hands of Jon Stewart by blasting his smug grin into space dust. Defeat Business Insider’s Henry Blodget, a man who once called Cramer “a chair-throwing, self-aggrandizing clown.”

Protect Cramer from Fox Business, a network that sneered, “[T]he last thing you need is Jim Cramer.” Shred Barron’s magazine, a publication that has tried to prove Cramer gives crappy investment advice. And, of course, keep the grizzly hordes of bear-market economists at bay.

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ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm